I just took a four-day car trip through the heart of that landscape — driving from Austin, Ind., down through Louisville, Ky., winding through Appalachia and ending up at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to try to answer that question.Trump is half right in his diagnosis, but his prescription is 100 percent wrong. We do have an epidemic of failing communities. [node:read-more:link]
Manufacturing never employed most American workers. Service and manufacturing employment rose in parallel as agricultural employment declined, until manufacturing employment peaked in the 1950s at 30 percent of the workforce and began its gradual decline. By 2010 nearly 80 percent of Americans worked in the service sector. Almost four out of ten of all ears of corn (maize) grown on earth originate in the watershed of the Mississippi River, which is also the source of most US grain, cotton, sorghum, soy, livestock and poultry. [node:read-more:link]
Deere reported on Friday a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit, as sales rose for the first time in 13 quarters on improving demand for its farm and construction equipment.Shares of Deere, which has cut jobs and lowered production due to declining demand for its trademark green tractors and harvesting combines, were up 7.3 percent at $120.30 in premarket trading.The U.S. [node:read-more:link]
Consumers view free-range and cage-free eggs as more nutritious and safer and are less concerned by the hen’s welfare than may have been thought.A new Australian study looking at the motivation behind purchases of free-range and cage-free eggs has found that consumer motivation is not simply driven by concern for the laying hen.Shoppers selecting these types of eggs may be less concerned by the perceived benefits for hens of these production systems, and more interested in the benefits that they, as consumers, might accrue from eating free-range or cage free-eggs.The study, conducted by the [node:read-more:link]
Sanderson Farms CEO Joe F. Sanderson Jr. reiterated that the company has no intention of moving into the antibiotic-free chicken market. “For a lot of reasons, we didn’t think it was right for us to do antibiotic-free. Our veterinarians, half of them would leave us if we did. [node:read-more:link]
Tyson Foods announced it is collaborating with the World Resources Institute to develop science-based greenhouse gas and water conservation targets for its operations and through the company’s supply chain. [node:read-more:link]
The Ohio Department of Agriculture recently introduced two new nutrient management tools intended to help farmers track planting conditions, and conserve nutrients.The Ohio Applicator Forecast is a new online tool designed to help nutrient applicators identify times when the potential nutrient loss from a fertilizer or manure application is low.Secondly, the Ohio Agricultural Stewardship Verification Program is a pilot certification for farmers who protect farmland and natural resources by implementing best management practices on their farms.Both programs are voluntary. [node:read-more:link]
Prescribed burning (also called controlled burning) is a popular grassland management tool across the country. These burns, when conducted carefully, can serve to maintain and restore native grasslands, control weeds, improve forage quality and even prevent wildfires. [node:read-more:link]
Cheese tea. It's tea. With cheese in it. And we cannot stop Googling it, staring at it, or wishing we had some right now to try. If you've never heard of the stuff, don't beat yourself up too much. It's only just beginning to become popular in China, Malaysia, and Taiwan, with shops like Royaltea, Regiustea, Heytea, and Chizu Drink popping up to capitalize on the growing trend. As of the beginning of this year, there's even a cheese tea shop in Queens, New York: Happy Lemon, which sells both bubble tea and a selection of cheese teas. [node:read-more:link]
Farmers bulked up their herds when prices were high, but then trouble in the global market hit
